Genesis 21: And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. 8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
God’s promises stand in spite of us.
One of the most tragic events during the Reagan Presidency was the Sunday morning terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, in which hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept. Many of us can still recall the terrible scenes as the dazed survivors worked to dig out their trapped brothers from beneath the rubble.
A few days after the tragedy, I recall coming across an extraordinary story. Marine Corps Commandant Paul X Kelly, visited some of the wounded survivors then in a Frankfurt, Germany, hospital. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived.
As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words -- "Semper Fi" the Latin motto of the Marines meaning "forever faithful." With those two simple words Nashton spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed body and limb and their lives for their country -- those who have remained faithful.
J. Dobson & Gary Bauer, Children at Risk, Word, 1990, pp. 187-188.
If you’ve been following along with us in this study of Genesis, you know that this event, the birth of Isaac, is the apex event in the story of Abraham. This is the victorious moment, the pinnacle of Abraham’s journey away from Ur of the Chaldees.
If you’ve been following along with us, you know that God called Abram away from his home country and made several promises to him.
Chapter 12 begins this way; Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Chapter 11 ended with the world in chaos. People were dispersed across the globe at the Tower of Babel. And as they populated the world, their acts of sin proliferated with them. God had created Adam and Eve perfect, but they chose disobedience, and now their offspring are following suit. God has already destroyed all of humanity, except Noah and his family, once in judgement for sin. And now, here they are again, back in the same condition.
If God were a man, you might think He would look over His creation in frustration at this point. “I’ve tried Paradise, I’ve tried apocalypse, now I’ve tried confusing their languages, but they are still bent on sin.” If God were a man, He might have given up at this point. Put the ant farm in the garage and let them fend for themselves.
But God is not a man, nor was all this a surprise to Him. Mankind is bent on sinning, and God has always had a plan to save them. Revelation 13:8 speaks of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
What that verse reveals to us is that it was God’s plan to send His Son, to die as a punishment substitute for humanity. And that that plan was conceived from the very creation of the world. God always had a salvation plan. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, and surrendered to the temptation of Satan, God revealed to them His plan to raise up the Son of Adam who would crush the Serpent’s head. God always had a plan.
And the birth of Isaac is the miraculous validation that God’s plan of salvation will proceed, despite our failures. From Isaac will be born Jacob/Israel. From Israel will be born the 12 tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah will be born the Christ.
And I say all that because if you’ve been following along with us, you know that in the previous chapter, Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife. And he put her in danger, and God’s plan in danger by doing so. He had already been promised that he would inherit the land of Canaan. He had been promised that he would become a blessing to the nations. And he had been promised that he would become the father of a nation, out of which would be born the One who would be a blessing to the world.
And more specifically, he had been told that Sarah would be the mother of the heir from whom would come the nation born to him. He had been told by God that she would conceive and have the child, depending on interpretation, within one year of His words, or possibly in 9 months. But despite that, Abraham still went down into Gerar, and because he was afraid, he told the king and residents there that Sarah was his sister.
He put the whole plan of God in jeopardy. How? Because there are only two possibilities in regard to Sarah’ condition. She is either, already pregnant with Isaac, or she would be soon. Whether the first or the second condition are true, Abraham should have been Sarah’s protector, if for no other reason than because she would be the mother of the promised heir. And we know that pregnancy lasts 280 days. Abraham takes his clan into Gerar, and out of fear, and probably habit, he tells the men there that Sarah was his sister. Abraham has done this before. The last time he told men this, the king of Egypt took Sarah to become his wife. If some man in Gerar had taken Sarah, and had intercourse with her, whether she was currently pregnant or not, even if Abraham somehow got her back and she became pregnant by him, there would always remain the question whether the promised child was Abraham’s or the man who took her in Gerar.
Abraham, because of his fear and failure to protect his wife, could have messed up God’s plan.
Or could he? Could he mess up God’s plan? Did he have that kind of power? Can we mess up God’s plan? Do we have that kind of power? And that’s the point I want to make with this chapter today. We cannot mess up God’s plan. Our failure does not undo the plan of God. God did not have an angel come to him one day and say, “Lord, you may want to take a look at what Abraham just did. He going to mess up your plan.” And then God watch Abraham, wringing His hands, hoping everything comes out okay.
He didn’t do that with Abraham, and He doesn’t do that with us. God’s plan has been made from before we were ever created, and He knew what we would do, before we ever did it. Let me show you that in Scripture.
Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.
1 John 3:20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
1 Kings 8:39 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men,
Psalm 139:4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
Hebrews 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Psalm 139:1-4 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Psalm 44:21 Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
1 Chronicles 28:9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
Why is it important that you understand that? Because we spend enough of our lives sinning, we don’t need to spend even more time beating ourselves up about messing up God’s plan.
Abraham sinned in chapter 20. God prevented any damage from being done. Now is not the time for Abraham to mope about it. It is time to repent and get on with obedience. Get back in line where you need to be. And leave God’s plan to Him.
And that’s what is done here. Let’s unpack this story. These events happen around 2065 B.C. It has been 25 years since God first promised that Abram would become a great nation.
And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
(God’s Word is completed regardless of Abraham.)
2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. (Within the time frame that God had told Abraham, Sarah conceived and bore Isaac.)
Let’s stop here for a second, because I’d like you to imagine what was happening during Sarah’s nine months of pregnancy. Both Abraham and Sarah knew what God had said. But when God said it, it says that Sarah overheard that she would become pregnant, and she laughed.
Genesis 18:12 And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (Legacy Standard Bible)
She laughed at the idea of a 90-year-old woman becoming pregnant. The idea was ridiculous to her. Now lest we blame her too much for her doubt, we are told that earlier Abraham had also laughed at the idea.
Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Will a son be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?” (Legacy Standard Bible)
So, after the Gerar incident, I think Abraham and Sarah would both be more quiet and subdued about the topic of her pregnancy.
Now, we know that often the first sure sign of pregnancy for most women is missing their period. But Sarah had long since gone through menopause, so that would not have been her first sign of pregnancy.
There are a number of early pregnancy signs that occur because of the hormonal changes to a woman’s body. Among them are morning sickness, food cravings, and nausea over some smells. Sarah likely knew that these symptoms occurred with other women when they were pregnant, but she had never experienced them. So, when they came, she had to begin thinking that maybe God’s promises would come true. She had laughed at the idea of having a child, but now, she is feeling things that she has never felt. And her feelings are tearing away at her festering doubts.
The morning sickness may have subsided at around 14 weeks, and depending on other conditions, Sarah may have started “showing” at 12-16 weeks. Whether she hid her pregnancy from others or not probably depends on her state of mind. She was probably beginning to feel a joy rising in her heart about the prospect of having a baby, but, like all women, that joy would be accompanied by worry and doubt.
Maybe this is wishful thinking. Maybe I’m not pregnant, maybe I’m sick or dying. She is an old woman. This would be the normal time that a person would be thinking about the end of their life, not having a child. And would she even live to see the child grow?
But, as the weeks progress, and she experiences all the normal healthy changes, I think her faith would be growing as well. The fatigue, soreness, mood swings, heartburn, hunger, and energy bursts are beginning signs of the growth of a real child in her womb. And then when she first felt the beginning flutters of the baby kicking, her heart probably leapt for joy even as did Elizabeth’s when she was pregnant with John the Baptist.
The time of her greatest faith comes with the visible growth of her belly and the swelling of her ankles.
Entering the third trimester Sarah experiences signs that the birth is soon. False contractions, heartburn, shortness of breath, dizziness, and fatigue.
And then one day, the birth pains begin, become closer, and then the birth. Such joy, especially for Abraham and Sarah.
3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
He calls him Isaac because God told him he would be called Isaac, and also because the word “Isaac” means laughter. That’s quite an appropriate name. Their experience with God’s promise of a son began with the laughter of doubt. Both Abraham and Sarah thought the notion of having a child at their age was a joke. But their laughter of doubt turned to the laughter of faith and joy. God fulfills His promises regardless of our doubt and even our disobedience.
4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.
About a year earlier, when he was 99, Abraham had been obedient when God told him that circumcision would be the sign of God’s covenant with his family for perpetual generations. That every male child was to be circumcised 8 days after birth. Chapter 17
24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27 And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
And now Isaac is circumcised. This is an example of Abraham returning to the stream of faith. For a while there, you had to wonder if Abraham held on to his faith. The Scripture says of Abraham that he believed God. But there were also moments of doubt.
Just like us, we can have euphoric moments when we feel the presence of God and experience a sense of unshakable faith that God is real and will do what He has promised. But in the monotony, fatigue and despair of long days and sleepless nights, we often slip for a bit. We may slip in faith. We may become fearful. We may commit sin. But God is faithful.
Romans 3:3 What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief abolish the faithfulness of God?
And God was faithful to His word with Abraham.
5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. 8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Now here is where we have a narrative turn in our story. Isaac’s birth is still the highpoint and God’s faithfulness is still our theme for this chapter. But we turn in our story to a reminder of something that happened before. Another moment of disobedience on the part of Abraham and Sarah. Something is going to come back to bite them. The Scripture says that we need to beware
Numbers 32:23 23 “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.
So, they have a great feast on the day that Isaac is weaned. He was probably 2 to 3 years old by most accounts. And any of us who had breast fed children can imagine the process. As an infant ages, you begin introducing food other than breast-feeding. But the child continues feeding at his mother’s breast, not just for nourishment, but for comfort as well. But as the months progress, regular food becomes more frequent, the breast less frequent. For some children, that final moment when it ends, it is traumatic. For others, less so. But, in some middle eastern cultures, the moment of weaning signified a time for celebration. The child made it out of the time when infant mortality was a looming threat. They survived infancy and now enter childhood. And for Abraham this was especially significant because it indicated that God continued to be faithful, that this son of promise would indeed be the heir of God’s promised inheritance. And so, as was customary, Abraham invited friends, family, and neighbors to a feast to celebrate the weaning. I’m sure, among other activities, Abraham addressed the assembly with a toast of thanks to God, and blessing on his heir.
But while Abraham was joyously expressing gratitude, Sarah noticed something else.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Sarah spied Ishmael, probably 16 or 17 years old at this time, making fun of Isaac. What was the nature of the joke? Isaac, being 2 or 3, still acted like an infant. He may have been fearful with all the crowd and the attention he was getting. He may have cowered behind his mother’s skirts. Ishmael, as a teen, in the spring of manhood, may have found it ridiculous that this “baby” was being called the heir, and that he had been pushed aside as the firstborn of Abraham.
We have to also note that there may have still been some contention between Ishmael’s mother and Sarah. 16 to 17 years earlier, when Sarah resigned herself to having no children, she gave her handmaiden to Abraham, to impregnate, and have children by her. But when Hagar saw that she was pregnant, “Sarai was despised in her eyes.”
We can imagine why. Hagar was a slave. But now she is elevated to being the bearer of a son to Abram. Sarai had no children. And in that society, a woman’s worth was tied to her producing children. If she did not, it might be thought of as a curse from God. So, Hagar sees herself as blessed by God, and Sarai as cursed. So, she may think, “why am I the slave, and my mistress the wife?”
At that time, Sarai also noticed the contempt in Hagar’s eyes. It may be that Hagar expressed her contempt for Sarai or was disobedient in some of her duties. So, Sarai tearfully, angrily told Abram, and with his permission, punished her. All Scripture tells us is that Sarai, “treated her harshly.” That probably meant being harsh verbally, possibly even physically. It may have involved corporeal punishment like a whipping.
After that treatment, Hagar ran away. And it is only by God’s intervention that she returns and submits herself to the authority of Sarah. I imagine that Hagar was a strong-willed young woman. And there was probably still resentment bubbling below the surface. It’s possible that she expressed some of that resentment to her grown son Ishmael.
And now, at 16 or 17, Sarah sees the same contempt in the eyes, and on the tongue of Ishmael, not toward her, but toward her 2- to 3-year-old son. And, as is natural, momma bear is going to protect her cub.
As we continue looking at this story, I want to remind you of the theme for this chapter; God is faithful, even when we fail. The whole story of Hagar and Ishmael was an example of faithlessness on the part of Abraham and Sarah. I call it faithlessness because they didn’t put their faith in God, but in their own plans.
You see, in chapter 15 Abram had been told that the promised son he would have would be his own son. It would not be an adopted child or slave. It would be a son from his own body. Now God did not reveal at that time that Sarai would be the mother. So, I’m sure that Abram shared those words with his wife. And then she begins reasoning out how God was going to fulfill His promise. She is long past childbearing years, so obviously she can’t have children, that’s impossible. But men can keep having children with younger wives until they are very old.
So, she proposes to Abram that he could have a child by one of the slave girls; Hagar. Now, why do I call Abram and Sarai faithless? It is not that they broke a commandment of God. God hadn’t revealed anything to Abram yet, except that he would be the father of the promised child. But they failed to do one very important thing; ask God. It’s God’s plan. It’s God who promised Abram a son. So, Abram should have taken Sarai’s proposition to God, before acting on it. I think that it is telling what the Scripture says; “Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.” Not the voice of God, the voice of Sarai.
Later Abram learns that the heir would be born to Sarah. But it is too late to go back. He has committed a presumptuous sin that will have repercussions for all future generations.
So back to our story…Sarah sees the contempt that Ishmael, this young man has for her child. And she sees a threat, not only to her son’s position, but maybe even to his life. So, she takes immediate action.
10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
Cast her out. Cast her son out. They are dangerous. There cannot be coheirs to your house. And if you think about it, Sarah is over 90 years of age, Abraham is over 100. She has no way of knowing how long they both will live. Ishmael and Hagar have been a part of the clan for 16 or 17 years. The only blood relatives to Abraham are Ishmael and Isaac. Sarah is his wife, Hagar was, in effect, his concubine. Abraham had 300 slaves who fought to save Lot and his family in an earlier story. So, this clan consists of loosely 4 family members, and hundreds of slaves.
If Abraham died, who would the slaves follow, 17-year-old Ishmael, or 3-year-old Isaac? Sarah sees danger. But Abraham is grieved.
11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
There had to be a lot of regret in the heart of Abraham, as there is a lot of regret in the heart of most who reach advanced years. We look back over our lives and think of all that we should have done, or what we should have done differently. We can’t change the past and its mistakes.
12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Do you know what this is? This is God being faithful despite our failures. God essentially tells Abraham that Sarah is right. It is a dangerous situation. When the pregnant Hagar had run away from her mistress Sarai some 17 years before, the Angel of the Lord had appeared to her and told her to return and submit herself to Sarai. And He had given her a prophecy concerning the son that she would bear. He said, in chapter 16,
11 And the angel of Yahweh said to her further, “Behold, you [l]are with child, And you will bear a son;
And you shall call his name [m]Ishmael, (God hears) Because Yahweh has heard your
affliction. 12 And he will be a wild donkey of a
man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s
hand will be against him; And he will dwell [n]in the face of all his brothers.”
I will bow to someone else’s commentary here.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(12) He will be a wild man.—Heb., he will be a wild-ass man. The wild ass of the Arabian deserts is a very noble creature, and is one of the animals selected in the Book of Job as especially exemplifying the greatness of God (Job 39:5-8). Its characteristics are great speed, love of solitude, and an untamable fondness of liberty. It is thus the very type of the Bedaween Arabs, whose delight is to rove at will over the desert, and who despise the ease and luxury of a settled life.
His hand will be against every man . .·.—The Bedaween can be bound by no treaties, submit to no law, and count plunder as legitimate gain. Nevertheless—
He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.—That is, he shall maintain his independence, and his descendants shall continue to exist as a free race in the presence of the other Abrahamic nations.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/16-12.htm
This prophecy about Ishmael was given to Hagar, but we can now read it in the Scriptures. That means that Hagar had to have shared it with Abram, or Sarai, or someone, when she returned in submission to Sarai.
But the words from God that mended the rift between Sarai and Hagar 17 years before, now may return to the minds of Sarah and Abraham; “He will be a wild-donkey man. His hand will be against every man.”
God tells Abraham that he must separate Ishmael and Hagar from his clan. But He reassures him that He will watch over them. He is not abandoning them to death.
13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
We learn later, in chapter 25, when Abraham dies, some 70 years later, that both Isaac and Ishmael bury him. There is some semblance of peace between them. Ishmael ends up having 12 sons and lives to a very old age. God assures Abraham. So…
14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
Now, this scene always seemed a little odd to me. If you don’t pay close attention to details, you might imagine Hagar carrying her son and running out of water, and then, in desperation putting her exhausted and dehydrated child under a bush and going off to herself.
But, if you’ve been keeping up with the chronology, you know that Ishmael was 13 at his circumcision, and 14 at Isaac’s birth. Then it was at Isaac’s weaning that Sarah demanded that they be cast out. The weaning had to be at least one year, up to 4 or 5 years according to the customs of the time. So, Ishmael had to be at least 15, maybe as old as 18 on this occasion. Unless he was a small individual, and Hagar a large woman, I don’t believe she was carrying her 18-year-old son.
Now some people take this as an occasion to say that there is an error in the Bible. They say that the author of Genesis is mixing up details. There is more pathos in the story if Hagar is carrying an infant, or small child and it is crying from thirst. But the details of the story don’t fit with his being a small child.
But may I say something here? This is not an error in Scripture. This is an account of an event. And some people are willing to allow some latitude when they hear someone tell about something that happened, but they will give no latitude with the Bible. They are searching for anything they can call an error. They won’t allow for poetic language; they won’t allow for doubt about the details.
But if you will indulge me a little imagination. This is how this could have happened, even if Ishmael was 18. She and her son strike out from Abraham’s camp. We don’t know what they were doing before they were cast out. Ishmael could have been working out in the heat, while Hagar worked in the tent or shade. They are told to leave and are given some basic provisions, bread and water. Ishmael, considering himself to be stronger, may have carried the heavier items. An average man, in working conditions, can become dehydrated in less than 4 hours if he is not taking in fluid. They venture out into the heat of the wilderness. It is possible that they get into unfamiliar territory and can’t find more water. And they drink all the water that they have. Ishmael may have been the first to succumb to exhaustion because he was bigger, was less hydrated, had worked more that day, and insisted that his mother drink the larger portion of the water they had.
Fatigue, dizziness, and confusion set in for both of them, but especially for Ishmael. Hagar and Ishmael may have been trying to hold each other up as they continued on in their quest for water. But Ishmael succumbs to faintness. He insists on resting, even though she can see that he may close his eyes and never open them again. Hagar, unable to hold him up, “cast him” under what little shade was immediately available. He is passed out and she can see no resolution to their dilemma except death. She, in her grief, can’t bear to watch her son’s death, so she staggers away to a place where she won’t have to watch. In that moment, Ishmael regains a degree of consciousness, and doesn’t see his mother. He cries out for her, he cries out to God.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
Again, this is picturesque language indicating that she is not to despair and dessert her son. “Hold him in thine hand” is better translated “strengthen thine hand in him.” And the word “lad” is translated “young man” in other places. It is used of Shechem in Genesis 34, who is obviously not a child because he has just raped Dinah. The same word was used to describe David as he went out to fight Goliath. The story goes on,
19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: (wild mountainous country south and east of Kadesh, and west of Edom) and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
She was originally from Egypt.
So ends the story of Hagar and Ishmael. As I said earlier, later we get a glimpse of their lineage, but as to details about their lives, they exit the narrative at this point.
Now, if it were not enough for Abraham’s pride to have to send away Hagar and Ishmael, as evidence of his faithless taking of Hagar as a concubine. Now, into camp walks another blast from past indiscretions.
22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:
Now, who is this? If you remember how we started today, recounting how Abraham lied about Sarah being his sister when he went into the city of Gerar. It was the king of Gerar that caught him in the lie. Let’s go back and read Genesis 20.
And Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the [a]Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is [b]married.” 4 (Now Abimelech had not come near her.) Then he said, “Lord, will You kill a nation, even though righteous? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself also said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my [c]hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Indeed, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also [d]held you back from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 So now, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
8 So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And [e]how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me [f]things that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you seen, that you have done this thing?” 11 And Abraham said, “Because I said, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; 13 and it happened when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is [g]the lovingkindness which you will show to me: [h]everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” 14 Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and returned his wife Sarah to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; [i]settle wherever it is good in your sight.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother one thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is [j]your vindication before all who are with you, and before all you are [k]cleared.” 17 And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they bore children. 18 For Yahweh had utterly shut all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
So now, King Abimelech shows up at Abraham’s camp with the commander of his army. What does he want?
23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.
He wants a treaty. Why would a king want a treaty with a nomadic sheepherder? Well, there are a few possible reasons. Abraham had a clan of hundreds. Hundreds of servants. And word may have gotten to Abimelech how Abraham had led those servants’ years earlier on a rescue mission against four invading kings and their armies to retrieve his nephew Lot and his family, and that he had successfully defeated those armies.
It's possible that Abimelech had had time to consider the destruction of Sodom of Gomorrah and thought that it was the judgment of God because of their sin. And when Abraham originally came to Gerar, and presented his wife as his sister, and Abimelech took her, intending to make her his wife, God had warned Abimelech that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, and that Abraham was a prophet.
What’s more, some sort of curse was on Abimelech’s house as long as Sarah was there. None of them were able to bear children; God had shut all of their wombs. And now Abraham, a man 100 years old, has had a son by his 90-year-old wife. If he hadn’t heard this back in his city, he knew it now.
So, Abimelech knows that Abraham is a prophet of God, that God protects Abraham and curses all who oppose him, and that Abraham has a clan who are empowered by God to defeat enemies far beyond their number. And that God miraculously gave him a son.
So, the wise move is to keep peace with such a man. So, he goes with his army commander and makes his pitch.
23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.
24 And Abraham said, I will swear.
Abraham also knows the value of alliances. But I think it is poetic that Abimelech shows up in this chapter. Abimelech is a poignant reminder to Abraham. Here is a heathen king who had to chastise Abraham for lying about his wife and subjecting her to possible rape. He had to tell Abraham, God’s man, God’s prophet, the future father of God’s people that he shouldn’t lie and should protect his wife.
This has not been a good time for Abraham. His sins are finding him out at every turn. But, as we learn later in Scripture,
Romans 8:28 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
So, after agreeing to a treaty, Abraham wants to clear the air of any troubles that exist between them.
25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. 26 And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but today.
Abimelech states that he didn’t know there had been a skirmish over a well.
27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. 28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? 30 And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.
The gift of the livestock is a good faith promise that they are now at peace.
31 Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. 32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. 4 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
“The land of the Philistines” here is considered by some to be an anachronism. In other words, the land that Abimelech returned to wasn’t yet occupied by the people called the Philistines, they would come later. But the person writing down, or later copying this story, added a note to let the later reader know where Gerar was, where Abimelech ruled.
The fact that after they leave, Abraham plants a grove, indicates that he feels that he can now settle down in one place for a time, because there is peace with his co-inhabitants.
This chapter ends on a peaceful note. And that brings us back to the point I wanted to make at the start; that God is faithful even when we fail. This chapter reminded Abraham of his sins; his lying about Sarah, and his faithlessness regarding Hagar. But despite his failure, God remained faithful. God’s plan still moved forward. At the end of the day, Abraham had Isaac as his heir, and he had peace in the region where he dwelt.
We need that kind of reminder. We need to be reminded that God is faithful, even when we are not.
Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother's heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janiero. Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture--taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note. It wasn't too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.
It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina's eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home." She did.
Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him the Savior, Multnomah Press, 1986, pp. 158-9.
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